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Bronze Tiger
Ben Turner comes from an upper middle class black neighborhood in Central City. When he was only 10 years old, he saw a burglar attacking his parents, and he proceeded to murder the man with a kitchen knife. In an effort to control the rage inside him, Turner turns to martial arts (and eventually, crime). After some time, Turner decides to travel to the Far East in order to finally come to terms with his demons. There, he meets the O-Sensei, and studies under him, together with later recruit Richard Dragon. Some time after they are approached by Barney Ling, from the organization known as G.O.O.D. (Global Organization of Organized Defense), and they begin (reluctantly) working for Ling. Richard Dragon discovered that Turner has been brainwashed into becoming the Bronze Tiger by Prof. Ojo, then used by Barney Ling (who turns out to be a traitor). Dragon and Turner prove to be equals in the fight, which only ends when Ling is accidentally knocked out a window. Later, Turner and Dragon are hired by King Faraday to work for the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence). Assigned to take down the League of Assassins, Dragon and Turner are discovered by the League, who kill Turner's fianceé, Myoshi, and proceeded to brainwash Turner. Turner was rid of his demons by channeling them into the identity of the Bronze Tiger, a masked assassin working for the League. During this time, he also trains the assassin David Cain's daughter, Cassandra, together with other members of the League. As the Bronze Tiger, Turner developed a fearsome reputation in the world, his identity remaining a secret to everyone but the League. As the Bronze Tiger, Ben was feared around the world, and the Sensei was smart enough to ensure that Ben hardly ever took off the mask, sending him on a new mission as soon as he finished another. For a time, his identity was secret and he became one of the most wanted criminals, the Bronze Tiger being a professional assassin, killing on three continents. Learning of Bronze Tiger's true identity, King Faraday set up a rescue squad of Rick Flag and Nightshade. They retrieved the Tiger, and he was deprogrammed by Amanda Waller, who would later run the Suicide Squad. The Suicide Squad Waller later recruits Turner for the Suicide Squad, setting him up to become the team's leader, but he ends up the team's second-in-command under Rick Flag. On the team's first mission, the Tiger faces Ravan, who he brutally cripples, but refuses to kill. Turner develops a relationship with Vixen, while Flo Crawley, a part of the Squad's support crew, nurses a crush for him. Meeting Ravan again later, Turner convinces him to join the Squad, and the two become an effective fighting duo. As the Suicide Squad roster was mostly populated by villains, the Tiger was one of the Squad's 'good' members, meant to balance out the other members. He often enforces Waller's rules, such as forcing various Squad members to wear devices designed to force good behavior. The almost corrupting nature of the Squad eventually leads to Rick Flag's departure from the Squad and seeming death in a nuclear explosion. Turner becomes the leader of the team, in which he excels, often disobeying direct orders to save the lives of his men (even if they were "expendable"). The Squad member Duchess, in reality the Apokilptian soldier Lashina, betrays the team and takes many, including Flo, home to Apokolips. Flo does not survive the kidnapping. Later Turner is confronted for his actions by his superiors, and in the ensuing meeting, Turner's mind snaps. He flees, traveling back to the East (leaving Vixen in the process), where he spends some time as a janissary. Shortly afterwards, the Suicide Squad is disbanded and Amanda Waller is sent to jail. Eventually, after a year, Amanda Waller reforms the Squad and again recruits Turner. In the missing year, Turner had become a deeply troubled man, who distances himself from Vixen and was constantly egging on Ravan to confront him. In one mission shortly after the team had reformed, Vixen is hurt, and this unlocks Turner's feelings for her once more. He mostly returns to his old state of mind. Vixen later leaves the team, and she and Turner part on good terms. In the team's last mission, the Squad struggles to free a small island nation from the tyranny of it's seemingly immortal ruler. The team must pass through a forest known for causing hallucinations. While the others experience their own mind-trips, Bronze Tiger faces himself. Defeating himself, and thereby exorsizing his demons, Turner once again becomes a complete person. The tyrant is later defeated by Waller. Post-Suicide Squad Shortly after leaving the Squad, Turner is part of the Knightquest: The Search adventure, which covered Bruce Wayne's search for Jack Drake (father of Tim Drake, the most recent Robin) and Shondra Kinsolving, who had been kidnapped. He teams up with Green Arrow and Gypsy, a member of the short lived Justice League Task Force. Gypsy becomes romantically involved with Tiger. He later becomes her mentor in the martial arts. Cassandra Cain begins a search for her birth mother, who she believes is Lady Shiva. She tracks down Turner in Detroit, where he has opened the "Tiger Dojo". Both are able to come to terms with Turner's involvement in Cassandra's training, and he expresses his pride at her becoming a hero. 52 During World War III, Bronze Tiger was shown to have retired, but was coaxed back into action by Amanda Waller. One Year Later Bronze Tiger rescues Rick Flag from a secret Quraci prison, where Flag had been imprisoned for four years. Notably he is seen wearing a variant on the costume he wore while with the League of Assassins, complete with a tiger head mask (reportedly he wears the mask to prove it no longer has any power over him). Afterwards, Amanda Waller appears at the Tiger Dojo, revealing to Ben that she leaked the information about Flag's whereabouts. She then enlists their aid in tracking down a supposedly rogue Suicide Squad team, a team which in reality was being run by Flag and Turner at Waller's behest. Currently Bronze Tiger was among the Suicide Squad members trying to bring in Pied Piper and The Trickster during Countdown. Television History Michael Jai White portrays Bronze Tiger in the Arrow episode "Identity". In the episode, an African American man is contacted by China White to combat Arrow. In addition to his martial artist abilities, he has two sets of gauntlets with three claws that make him very formidable. He is later defeated by an electrified-trick arrow. He later appears in "Tremors" where he is freed from prison to retrieve a prototype of Malcolm Merlyn's Earthquake device. Felicity confirms that his name is Ben Turner and that he does go by the alias of Bronze Tiger, which she thinks is a bad name since tigers aren't bronze. He retrieves the device but is soon after defeated by Arrow and Roy Harper. Upon his return to prison he is approached by Amanda Waller with a proposal to work off part of his sentence by being recruited into a "squad." White appears in the episode Suicide Squad as a member of the team. Exerpt from Scribblenauts Unmasked: One of the greatest martial artists on earth, Ben Turner trained under the tutelage of O-Sensei and became a target for recruitment by the League of Assassins. When he turned the league down, they kidnapped him, forcing him to wear a bronze tiger mask that made him lose all control, letting the league use him as an assassin. Ben was caught King Faraday and Nightshade who brought him to Amanda Waller who offered him redemption by inviting him to join the Suicide Squad I. Category:DC Villains Category:Comic Book Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Batman Villains Category:Green Arrow Villains Category:True Neutral Category:Assassin Category:Feline Villains Category:Hunters Category:Martial Artists Category:Possessed/Brainwashed Category:Speedster Category:Fighter Category:Stranglers Category:Knifemen Category:Live Action Villains